Saoirse Ronan will be playing Susie Salmon. Maybe her name is not familiar to most but she will be seen on screen soon playing Briony in Atonement. Lucky girl…she’s got two great roles…from two of my favourite books too. Read more here.

And Stanley Tucci has been cast as the killer, George Harvey. I can’t really remember what the book’s description of Mr Harvey was…does Stanley Tucci look the part? Anyway…read more here.

One of the main reasons that I watch this movie…is that I recognise the cast…the two leads…whom we haven’t seen act that much. There’s Larisa Oleynik…she was in the Secret World of Alec Mac…remember her? After 10 Things I hate About You, we haven’t really seen much of her right? Then there’s Shiri Appleby…she was Liz in Roswell…we’ve seen her in some stuff…but all in minor roles.

So anyway….this one is about two childhood best friends who both love dancing…except the other lives and breathes dancing…totally devoted to it and dreams of attending Julliard. But when she is diagnosed with cancer…she fears all her dreams will be dashed.

I didn’t like it…it was boring…Its just like what Will Lightman of About a Boy said…crap made for t.v. movie about a kid with leukemia…Although I wouldn’t exactly say its crap…since it wan’t horribly bad with horribly bad acting…it was just ordinary…the same storyline thrown at us soo many times before…it wasn’t original and interesting…I mean the story was suppose to be this major tear jerker that just pulls your heart strings…sure it was sad and everything…but it just wasn’t that type of emotional drama that just makes you want to curl up and cry. And the acting well…it was only so so. I guess…that the only thing that could have set it apart from the others was the dance back story…but then…I didn’t really like dance sequences…it wasn’t really nice…and neither did I like the whole dream sequence thing…it was weird…I guess its just too artsy for me.

It is near the end of the nineteenth century; Robert Angier and Alfred Borden are two young magicians. They are friends and yet are rivals both in search of the illusive act that would bring them fame and fortune. But when a fatal accident occurs taking the life of Angier’s wife…their friendly rivalry turns into a fierce battle to put the other out of the scene once and for all.

I read a review of this movie somewhere that said it was best to watch this movie knowing as little as possible, due to the twist and turns that the movie has…knowing too much would inevitably spoil the movie…thus I keptto that…and avoided all the message boards on it on IMDB…I’m glad I did. And so if you want to watch this…I recommend you not to read on….

** Contain Spoilers**

Here’s the thing, magicians are such intriguing character…they’re mysterious…and sometimes downright creepy…and you’re always wondering whether its all an illusion…if it is…which part of the act was it that had fooled you making you believe it was real…or maybe it was all real…And here we are transported to their world and a given an understanding of what it takes to make an act work…the importance of a pretty assistant for distraction…for one, a staff planted amongst the audience who would be picked as a volunteer for a trick…the art of disguise and above all the importance of an engineer of the tricks…who not only designs the acts but all the props and gadgets to make the illusion a success…and such a role was played by Michael Caine…the loyal Cutter, the designer of Angier tricks who brings sanity to Angier insane quest and obsession in uncovering Borden successful act…the Transported Man. And Angier played none other than Hugh Jackman …probably in one of his darkest role… a man so intent on revenge it consumes him. While Christian Bale plays Borden, the saner of two…trying to get past the unfortunate accident, setting up a family, building a career , creating the ultimate act….the center of Angier’s obsession, and having Angier at his back…on almost every turn trying to sabotage his act.

I liked the setting…the Victorian era…the colours used…the costumes…even liked the magician posters…and the magician’s props…how can anyone not mention them…the technicality of most of them…somehow I was just never aware that so much science goes into their design… the effects were great too…the scenes with Tesla and his experiments…coming into this movie…I didn’t even know there were science fiction elements in it…and the narrative was interesting. It starts at the present…at the past…we’re given different perspectives…a lot of flashbacks…this might sound confusing…but it wasn’t really…it all worked out…the story flowed well.

Complex film…really like it, keeps you thinking long after the credits roll. The ending…Never saw it coming. At some point I thought…could it be real magic?…then when we met Tesla…I thought they were clones…and then it seemed they were twins afterall?? Twins?? Now did I get it right? Or did I miss something…or are they really clones. Hah…I guess I might have to watch it again. Actually I found this post on IMDB…The Definitive Guide to “The Prestige”…Interesting interpretation of the movie…I quite agree on a lot of it…plus it does shed some light on the stuff I wasn’t clear about. Certainly a link you might want to check out.

Overall, thoroughly enjoyed the film… a great story…love all the twist and turns…its soo clever…really makes you think. Watch it.

Click here to check out the details and you can even order them online from vpost.

I couldn’t resist buying and actually bought the box set. They’re cool and everything…each movie comes in its own booklet…but I do wished the actual stamps were of Harry Potter rather than it only being the decorative part. I took pictures of the box set, so you can see them…not really that good though…still haven’t mastered the use of my digital camera…so anyway… enjoy.

Aishwarya Rai plays Tilo, who belongs to some cult group that worships spices. She is sent to San Francisco to open a shop there and to help people using the mysterious powers of the spices. To be successful and faithful to her role of helping people with spices…she must obey three rules, never leave her store, never touch another person, or use the spices for her own gain. But as it so happens…she meets a man who she later becomes attracted to, who may force her to break all the rules.

The similarities with Chocolat are pretty obvious…only difference…this deals with spices not chocolate…but I just found this one a tad more weird. Tilo belonging to some secret group…worshiping spices…sent to help people through the use of spices…ok…so the the intentions does seem noble…but the whole magical aspect of it is weird…at least in Chocolat…Juliette Binoche’s character, who makes chocolates that seem to have magical effects, opens a shop to feed her family…not to serve some higher purpose. And I didn’t like the subplot with Tilo helping her customers too…mainly…mostly cause most of the scenes were bad and not well acted.

The movie is sweet that I can say. A sweet magical fairytale…ends as you’d expect. The colours were pretty. And the shop…was pretty too…Never seen such a pretty spice shop before and Aishwarya Rai is as pretty as ever…Though as a romance flick…couldn’t really see much attraction, chemistry between the two leads….no foolish passion …lust…that would overcome Tilo to break all the rules. But anyway if you like romance flicks or Aishwarya Rai…then you’d probably enjoy this one.

Often called the male version of The Craft…yes…substitute 4 witches with four warlocks…and film them 10 years later…ta-dah…we have the Covenant.

The story: The first born male from four families all have supernatural powers and gains full power by the age of 18. But the powers are addictive…use it too much…and it will weaken and age them. Adding danger…the son of the fifth banished family has arrived, driven by revenge and greed, to destroy and steal their powers.

You know what…I thought the story was interesting…it had the whole supernatural thing going on…it actually had potential…what a waste though…The bad script…the bad lines…and the acting…the horrible acting…pretty much ruined whatever potential it might have…and Wasn’t Pogue just robotic. The special effects…well that was so-so too….I liked the whole car crashing and resembling part…that was pretty much it…the others were just energy balls being thrown around…something like that.

Overall…Well…no surprise…it wasn’t great. But hey…I didn’t think it was horrible horrible…It is after all a teen supernatural flick…take it for what it is. And for what it was…it was rather entertaining…I wasn’t bored… 🙂 even with the horrible acting and lines…which was sometimes quite funny.

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